Jealousy
by midnightafterdark
Summary: AU: S5, Frienemies. No spoilers! Just cute Charlie/Amita fluff. When Marshall comes to help with a case and has his eye on Amita, what does Charlie think?


**Disclaimer: **Although it would be amazing if I did, I do no own any part of Numb3rs.

AU: Set in _Frienemies. _Before criticizing, please let me say that Marshall NEVER asked if Charlie was still dating Amita. Disregard that line in the episode! Thanks (:

Jealousy.

"So. The great Charles Eppesie. Asking for my help once again," Marshall Penfield gloated, his eyes focused on the laptop in front of him.

"I swear. If you call me Eppesie one more time…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"Ooh, is that a threat?"

Charlie remained silent, letting the feeling of regret flow through his body. He regretted asking Marshall for his help, he regretted allowing Marshall into his office, and he regretted letting Marshal get his dirty fingerprints all over his laptop!

"Are you about finished?" Charlie asked irritably.

"Now, now, Charlie. Patience."

"How long can it take for one mathematician to process a single deep current set?" Charlie didn't really mind the wait, he just wanted a reason to be mad at Marshall.

"I'd like to see you try."

"You know what Marshall?" Charlie stood, slamming his palms across his desk that Marshall sat at.

"Oh, what's that Eppesie?" He looked up from his work, squinting his eyes at Charlie.

"All's I ask is for a little respect once in a while. You always need to be better than me or…"

"Oh, I need to respect you? You're the one who came to me for help if I recall. Correct?"

"Exactly. I asked you to help me, not disrespect and start a fight every time we spoke." Charlie didn't want to lose his head and have Marshall quit but the man was just so horribly infuriating.

"I'm not trying to fight! I'm _attempting_ to process this data for you but _you_ cant seem to shut up and let me work!"

"Everytime we speak, we fight! Papers, lectures, data, hell, even hamburgers!" Charlie spoke with his hands, creating large exasperated gestures.

"I still say in-and-out," Marshall muttered, returning to his work.

"Charlie didn't respond but instead sat in a chair and rested his head on his right hand, closing his eyes.

"Hey, is someone a little stressed? I can feel it in the atmosphere." The sound of Amita's voice coaxed Charlie from his slumped position.

"Yes," Charlie and Marshall both groaned in unison.

"I can't take this anymore. Amita, you need to stay with this… undesirable," Charlie spat. He crossed te room and then grumbled, "Going for a walk."

A few moments of somewhat awkward silence evolved between Marshall and Amita but it was soon broken by one whom was hoping for something he **would not** receive.

"So Amita. Have you ever worked with deep current sets before?"

"No, but I'm really enjoing this new experience." Amita shook her head and smiled, " it's nice to experiment with new things once in a while."

"I agree. Have you ever thought about branching out? Maybe start working on something of your own, not always Eppesie's ideas?" Marshall hinted, raising his eyebrows.

"I really enjoy working with Charlie. I find his work with the FBI to be very insightful."

"Doesn't it ever get old working with him? Maybe you should be experiencing new fields."

"I actually began a class on Astrophysics two years ago. It's a great experience for me."

"Actually, I was thinking that beside in assisting Eppesie, you might enjoy searching into new opportunities…" Marshall wasn't so subtly hinting anymore and Amita could clearly see that.

"Marshall, I am perfectly happy working with Charlie here at Cal Sci," she said polietly yet firmly, hoping he would drop the subject.

"Amita," he approached her. "I think you're very intelligent, kind, so compassionate about your work, not to mention you're beautiful."

"Thank you, but really. This isn't a good idea."

"C'mon we could make this work. Please, what're you doing on Thursday night?" Marshall asked, nearing desperation. Little did he know that Charlie had in fact never taken his walk. After deciding to just cool off outside his office, he began to hear his girlfriend and arc-enemy engulf in conversation. Attempting casualty, Charlie strolled in and walked up to Amita, kissing her on the cheek.

"Thanks. Perfect timing." The relief on her face was evident.

Charlie smiled and winked. "Marshall," he greeted. "Any progress?"

"Ah, yes. Almost done," he retorted, quickly shuffling to his seat.

"hey," Charlie addressed Amita again, drawing her close and locking his arms around her waist. "We still on for dinner Thursday night?"

"Yeah, definitely. You sure you won't be too busy with the case? This is pretty important."

"Well so are you," he murmured. Charlie made a very valid point of kissing Amita, directly in front of Marshall. Slightly overdoing his little act, he took her face in his hands and whispered a quick "I love you."

He looked up to see Marshall busily typing away on his laptop seeming quite preoccupied with whatever was on the screen.

"Uh," Marshall coughed. "I've got this set done."

"Great!" Charlie said happily. "I'll get this down to Don. I better get going." He quickly kissed Amita again and grabbed his coat. He opened the door and prepared to leave when Amita's voice stopped him.

"Bye Charlie. I'll see you tonight," she responded in farewell.

"Oh," he poked his head back in. "Speaking of tonight, are you staying over?"

Amita smiled, playing along in his little game. "Yeah, I will."

"Bye," Charlie smiled again, closing the door.

The rest of the time Marshall and Amita were together, the only words muttered from him were "I'm sorry," followed by a smile from Amita.

~10987654321~

Hello! First of all, I must give credit to my lovely best friend, wild-springflower for writing a paragraph or two of this for me and coming up with the title! Second of all, I must stress again that Marshall did not know they were dating! This is an AU! Thirdly, please review! The button's right there!

-Frankie!


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